Lights, Camera, Empowerment: My Beginnings in a Male-Driven Industry

From aspiring English teacher to production assistant, all the way to camera operator, I share some of the key moments that helped me build up my experience in the film industry.

I never considered working in film as a potential career. I had aspirations to be an English teacher in Japan, with the idea of traveling the world as my ultimate dream. I planned to graduate high school and get a Bachelors in (TEFL) Teaching English as a Foreign Language and move away. But no matter how hard we may try to make our plans line up like we want them to, they always change and sometimes for the better.

Arsenal/Southern Fury

When I was in my senior year of high school, I drove home after class one day to our house on the coast in Mississippi. With a knock on the door, there stood a production/location manager, stating that there was a feature film coming to the area and the crew was considering using our house for the film - completely out of nowhere. After a phone call with my mom, the next week a film crew all dressed in black took a tour of our house and our mother-in-law suite in the backyard of our property.

I got to meet the director - Steven C. Miller, known for his horror style features - and was given the opportunity to be a stand-in for the lead actress and a featured extra on the film. After school during filming, I would get on set, bring a good book and wait to be called to stand-in. The movie, Arsenal would release on Netflix in 2017, starring Nicolas Cage, Adrian Grenier and John Cusack. This was such a unique and fascinating experience for me that ultimately started me on the path to filmmaking.

Film School

After Arsenal, I graduated high school and took a year to work at my families auto repair shop, starting a photography business on the side. I finally decided to go to school and started at the local community college. During a playwriting class, I made a friend a few years older than me that eventually asked me to play a lead role in his short film for his junior film at university. I accepted and started to learn more about the film program at Southern Mississippi, which was right on the coast near my home.

I then decided to get my major in English with a minor in Film, since I had a passion for photography and film. This program was very general, but allowed me to have basic knowledge of the industry and opportunities available to me. I kept working as an extra in feature films around the coast, and then had the chance to work on a pilot for a ultra low-budget series that would help me jump start my career.

Low Budget Short Film

I graduated in the fall of 2020, amid the COVID pandemic and continued shooting weddings and family photos for my business. I shot a video for a wedding and met the guy that was doing photos for the event. A year later, I saw a Facebook post that the photographer was looking for film crew to shoot a pilot for a limited series pitch. It was super low-budget, but I wanted to gain experience in the industry, so I took the job. Staying in a spare room at the photographer and his wife’s home, I worked 6 days back to back, almost 12 hours a day as an Assistant Camera to help the pilot come to life.

It was a little taste of what the industry was really like, working long hours, building cameras, changing lenses/batteries, etc. I loved the excitement of getting to create something and starting networking with the rest of the crew. I learned that the audio engineer for the pilot had a full-time position on a HGTV show just a few hours away called “Home Town”. He gave me the email of the production manager, and I showed my interest in case they ever had an open position on the show.

They let me know that they were fully staffed, but would keep my information. No less than a month later, I was offered a job as a day player production assistant for the spinoff show “Home Town Takeover”. It was my first real film job, and I was so excited to be on set. Of course, as a production assistant, my main job was to run errands, get lunches and the like. But even so, I loved the change of pace.

Home Town - HGTV - Full-time Production Assistant

October into the holidays, I continued to day play for the next few months on the main show, along with the spinoffs and even started working on the reality show, “The First 48”, which was filming in Alabama. In the start of 2022, I considered getting a part-time job to make more consistent income, but around the second week in January, I got a call that the full-time staff production assistant for “Home Town” was leaving and they were offering me the position, which would last until September.

I was so excited and stayed with a friend for a few months, until my dad helped me move my cats and a camper closer to the show. The show became a great opportunity for me to have a full-time job, make a little money, and learn about set life. I worked as a PA Monday-Friday until May of 2022 with no qualms. I signed up to receive jobs from the Mississippi Film Office registry and in May was offered a position to 2nd AC for a low budget feature for two weeks. I informed my full-time show of the conflict and unfortunately, my position was easy dispensable, and if I were to accept the AC job, they would replace my PA position.

It was a tough decision, but I decided to take the chance and hoped that new job would lead me to another. While I was day playing on “The First 48”, I got word that the 2nd AC feature was postponed…and I was out of work. I knew I had been replaced on “Home Town”, so I started looking for other work, specifically on a website called StaffMeUp.

Not even a week after leaving “Home Town” and losing the AC job, I got a job as a PA on an upcoming show called “Love in Fairhope”, which would start a week. I expressed my interest in the camera department and the production manager agreed that I would be a camera PA.

Love in Fairhope - HULU - Assistant Camera

Yes, the title does say Assistant Camera. I worked as a camera PA for about two weeks, getting the production office set up, grabbing lunches, and running errands. When the show started, I was transferred to the camera department to help build FX9s, charge batteries and pretty much everything I learned to do on the low budget pilot the year before.

I was eager to learn, but also eager to move up to AC as soon as possible. I was intimidated by the camera crew, especially the Director of Photography as I had never been on a show of this extent. I finally got the guts to chat with the DP and express my interest in being an AC. With a promise to help me move up as the show went on, I worked my butt off learning as much as I could, staying late to set the film reel count, adjusting camera settings and building a trusting relationship with the lead AC.

Still within the midst of the COVID pandemic in the film industry, getting tested every week and wearing masks when others seemed sick, our AC tested positive and had to sit out for a week. This was my opportunity to prove myself, and after bringing on another AC for a few days that did a sub-par job, I was bumped up to AC for the week to fill his spot. I then had a camera PA under me, and my role was reversed - training the PA in everything I had learned. After the AC came back on set, I became camera PA again, but every other week would bump up for a bigger event day, with a PA working under me (so there would be 2 ACs as we would also bring on more camera ops).

This was a turning point for me, as I felt that I learned so much in so little time - yet, looking back now, there was still so much I didn’t know. I could go on and on about going from AC to Operator, but I feel that is meant for another post.

That’s a Wrap

To wrap up, each one of these moments was a key element of my career and my journey. If I hadn’t accepted the low budget AC role and stayed in the photographer’s home, I would’ve never meet the audio engineer that would help me get to “Home Town”. If I had stayed as a PA and not left for the AC job that fell through, it would’ve taken me even longer to build to a true AC role. Each of these moments were essential to my career and can stand as a lesson to others looking to grow in the industry.

Don’t think you know it all. It may seem that being humble and accepting a job you may think you are overqualified for is a waste of time. It may be. However, it may also open you up to other opportunities that weren’t possible before. You could meet a director that wants to bring you with them on the next job because they see you’re a hard worker or you may make a lifelong film friend. Take chances, be eager to learn and seek out jobs and networking opportunities that put you in front of others in the industry. Film is about working with a team of talented creatives and you have to be able to network and talk with others to get your name out there.

That’s all for this post! If you’re looking to get into the industry as a PA or AC, watch my Youtube video below about How to Be a Production Assistant & My Experience:

how to be a set production assistant & my experience

I’ll follow up with more of my journey and how I built up my experience to camera operator.

Til then, Stay Reel ~

~ Film Girl South

Savanna Jones